A successful deceased-donor liver transplant program is not a prerequisite for a living-donor program.

The Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA) permitting transplantation of organs from brain-dead individuals was passed by the Indian parliament in 1994. In the 12 years since, only approximately 100 deceased-donor liver transplants (DDLT) have been performed in 18 centers countrywide. As per the Western liver transplant rates of 15-20 per million population (USA, UK), the number of patients requiring liver transplantation for end-stage liver disease in India would be 20,000 annually. Hence there is a large demand-supply gap.